The Man who would be Inkosi: Civilising Missions in Shepstone’s Early Career1

Abstract

African historiography looks to Theophilus Shepstone as the architect of a ‘system’ that presaged twentieth-century styles of indirect rule in Africa. But Shepstone’s ideas did not develop in a vacuum or emerge as a ready-made blueprint. This article examines how his methods developed in the interplay among various colonial and African allies and rivals, all operating in the context of rapidly changing local and imperial environments in the 1840s and 1850s. It focuses on his 1854 proposal to lead a substantial portion of Natal’s Africans to a new promised land where he would rule. The proposal reflects Shepstone’s origins as a child of frontier missionaries and protege of an imperial officer. The article argues that Shepstone’s ideas at this stage of his career emerged from a fusion of state and missionary versions of the civilising mission. Sir T. Shepstone was to all intents and purposes exactly like a native chieftain. He behaved like one; witness the having a snuff-box bearer. (John Kumalo2) The proposition, therefore, is nothing else than that Great Britain should establish a new kingdom in South Africa – and make Mr. Shepstone the King of that country! (Sir George Grey3)